I wanted to read something from this author for a while and finally got this book.
I enjoyed the beginning with all the analysis about David vs Goliath. The underdog wins 68-70% if follows the underdog rules. And underdog tactics are hard. The story about the female basketball team that just pressed the rivals and won games is hilarious. The summary is the advantage has always disadvantages and the disadvantages has advantages.
Effort can trump ability and that conventions are made to be challenged.
Any fool can spend money. But to earn it and save it and defer gratification, then you learn to value it differently
Another concept is the inverted U that follows nearly everything of consequence. There is nothing such as infinite good. All positive traits, states, experiences have costs that at high level may begin to outweigh the benefits. Examples: School classes with very few students, children from rich families matching their parents (as they dont go through the same problems as the parents)
So being bigger, stronger and richer is not always in our best interest.
Other concept is the “Being big fish in a small pond or being small fish in a big pond”. For this he uses the example of the Impressionism art. And I learned many new details about how they all worked and supported together. For the them, the big pond was the Salon, where only the considered best, were exhibited. But that would kill their meaning as artists. So they created their own pond, it was smaller compared to Salon but they were the big fish there, and time has put them in their place. As well, the inverted-U applies here too. Another example for the big fish/small pond theme, is education. I was surprised about the amount of drop-outs in the top universities compared with the non-top ones. And this touched a fiber. I believe, I am engineer because I studied in the UCM. If I had attended the Polytechnic University, maybe I wouldn’t finish it or I wouldn’t enjoy networks as much. Why that happens? You form your impressions locally, comparing with people on the same boat as you. So you are surrounded by genius, you are going to have a hard time if you are not one of them. The countries with higher suicide rate are in theory, the happiest countries…. This reminds me to Instagram… And there is an inverted U here too. If it is too hard, you fail, but you need some difficulty. That brings me to climbing and work. You want to be the weakest (climbing/engineer) in the room so you work/push harder to be better. I spent 7y in a firma being the dumbest, I learned a lot! I improved a lot, never caught up with the others, and didnt care, I compared with myself, and could see the improvement. Like climbing, I try hard routes, that’s the only way to improve. The obstacle is the way. But again, the inverse-U, too hard, you fail. I can’t solo El Capitan. And somehow, I feel that learning bachata, I feel too clumsy.
Dyslexia is another example of David vs Goliath. The examples of the founder of IKEA and his adventure in (communist) Poland and Gary Cohn. Your learning difficulties make you find alternatives.
Another character, Emil Freireich. He developed the chemotherapy program, while working with dying kids… “There are things that either build you up or put you down” I think we can choose most of the times.
There is another topic that covers Martin Luther King‘s activities, London Blitz , Northern Ireland conflict and Brownsville NY. This is regarding the limits of power. And that applies to school classes.
Most revolutions are not caused by revolutionaries, but by the stupidity and brutality of governments.
When people in authority want the rest of us to behave, it matters the most, how they behave. This is the principle of legitimacy:
- The people who are asked to obey authority have to feel like they have a voice.
- The law has to be predictable. The rules for tomorrow are going to be roughly the same as today
- Authority has to be fair. No groups treated differently.
The near miss
What is right? Most often as not, is simply the way that people in power/privilege close the door on those on the outside.
And many things in life, are actually just “time and chance” although we love to find logic to all. (I am impressesed/scared with so many interpretations of that text…)
The last is a bit harsh. It is about forgiveness and is connected to the power points above. And follows the inverse-U, the three-strikes law didnt do that good. Putting people in jails is expensive. We need a different approach. Not easy at all to do that, even more if your kid is killed cold blood.
